Class of 2023 Spotlights: Darwin White
The journey that led Darwin White to obtaining his Master’s Degree in Social Work has been a long, hard road, but today he is standing with a newfound appreciation and perspective on life and pursuing higher education.
The youngest of 13, Darwin grew up in a single-family home, raised by his Apache Spanish-American mother in the City of Hawaiian Gardens. Drugs were rampant in Darwin’s circle, and he soon joined a gang when he was still in grade school, growing up with the adage of: ‘just don’t let mom find out.’
Darwin, at 11 years old, found himself in juvenile hall. This started a pattern of incarceration that lasted for the next 30 years, due to drug possession, robbery and being an active gang member.
“My life was a living hell,” Darwin says. “I did whatever I could to get my next fix.”
An encounter with the presiding judge over one of his court cases turned Darwin’s life trajectory around for good.
“I believe in you,” the judge told Darwin, deciding to enroll Darwin into a rehabilitation program instead of sending him back to prison. “I believe in you, and I’m going to give you one more chance Mr. White,” Darwin recalls the judge saying.
“There I was, 44 years old and no one had ever told me that they believed in me,” Darwin reflects.
Darwin went through the court-appointed program he received, got a sponsor, worked through the 12 Steps and ended up finishing his drug rehabilitation -- subsequently enrolling at Cypress College and receiving his associate’s degree with honors. He transferred to Cal State Fullerton, and obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services, earning Cum Laude honors, and started a new career working as a drug and alcohol counselor for the Substance Abuse Foundation of Long Beach (SAF). He is an intern currently at the American Indian Counseling Center, where he himself spent many years as a client.
“It has been a long, hard road, but I haven’t looked back,” Darwin says, who is nearly 15 years clean of all substance use, and is a present figure in the lives of all his children ages 10, 12, 17 and 42. He is also helping to counsel at-promise youth who are facing similar hard circumstances and struggles that Darwin once did.
“I’m not there to judge them; I’m there to help them get out of whatever bad circumstances they face, and to become successful in life.”
Darwin goes on to say, “My life today is unbelievable. I am about to graduate, I get to raise my daughter and today I’ve learned to find a solution, not to sit in the problem.”
As a master’s candidate, he would like to impact as many struggling people he can with his story and degree. “To those who may have similar backgrounds, and to those who just need to know, I want to say that if you are determined, you can conquer whatever you put your mind to, regardless of where you come from.”
